Tegna First Quarter Revenues, Income Increase

May 8, 2018 at 5:25 AM (PT)

TEGNA, the GANNETT television spinoff company that got into the radio business with the acquisition of MIDWEST TV's News-Talk KFMB-A and Rock KFMB-F (100.7 KFM-BFM)/SAN DIEGO along with CBS affiliate KFMB-TV and CW affiliate KFMB-DT2, reported a 12% revenue increase year-to-year for first quarter 2018 to $502.1 billion.

The boost was primarily due to $50 million in Olympic and SUPER BOWL ad sales, a $23 million rise in subscription revenue, and a $5 million increase in political advertising. Net income from continuing operations rose 30% on a non-GAAP basis to $70.8 million. The acquisition of the SAN DIEGO stations closed on FEBRUARY 15th, and the radio stations' performance was not broken out from the overall revenue figures.

“We entered 2018 with a solid foundation for growth. Excluding the impact of the terminated digital businesses, our revenue this quarter grew 12 percent year-over-year, at the high end of our guidance. Even without the benefit of SUPER BOWL, Olympic and political advertising, revenue grew nearly six percent on a non-GAAP comparable basis,” said President/CEO DAVE LOUGEE. “Furthermore, three months of sequential growth in total paid subscribers underscores how stable this important revenue stream is for our company and a reflection of how critical our strong broadcast affiliates are to virtual MVPDs. Our growth strategy continues to open up new markets, including a new partnership for PREMION that allows us to sell to streaming subscribers of MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL’s MLB.TV. And the closing and integration of our MIDWEST TELEVISION transaction in SAN DIEGO reinforces our proven ability to be a disciplined and strategic consolidator.”